Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MUSIC tRAOE REVIEW
Paderewski's Third Recital Well Attended—After Recital in Boston Will Leave on Extended
Western Trip—Walter Damrosch Appeals for a Liberal Sunday Law—Ernest Schelling
Scores a Great Success With the Steinway—Plays With Boston Symphony Jan. 24th-25th
—Louis Lombard Attempts Suicide—MacDowell Fund Exceeds $38,000—Josef Hofmann
Proves Himself Greater Than Ever—New Chamber Organization—Closing of Carnegie on
Sunday Has Disrupted Plans of Artists—Mme. Carreno Plays With All Her Old Spirit and
Authority—Other Comments by the Editor of This Department.
Paderewski gave his third recital—his last
before his return in the spring—at Carnegie
Hall on Saturday afternoon, and notwithstanding
the weather which was abominable, there was
a large and enthusiastic audience who enjoyed
a program that was reminiscent of his earlier
years in America—Bach's A minor prelude and
fugue, arranged by Liszt; Beethoven's C sharp
minor sonata, Schumann's "Carnival," with the
omission of a few of the scenes; pieces by Chopin,
his own nocturne, the Spinning Song from "The
Flying Dutchman," arranged by Liszt, and Liszt's
Tenth Hungarian Rhapsody. His reading of the
Beethoven number was one of reverence and
beauty. It abounded in tone tinting and was
most poetic throughout. It was certainly piano
playing of the highest and best kind, and brought
fo-th all the tonal beauties of the Weber piano
to a marked degree. His playing of the later
numbers, particularly the "Carnival," cannot
come in for as high praise, as they were uneven,
despite the magic of this wonderful pianist's
interpretation. As a whole, the recital was one
of rare enjoyment and it goes without saying,
that his western tour will be a triumphant one.
At Paderewski's only recital in Brooklyn, at
Baptist Temple last Monday evening, he played
his own sonata, Liszt's great sonata in B minor,
and ten Chopin pieces, including six etudes, a
nocturne, the (berceuse, a polonaise, and a valse.
Paderewski gives up New York as his headquar-
ters on Friday, Dec. 20, when he will go to Bos-
ton to give his second recital there on Saturday
afternoon, Dec. 21. He will spend the Christ-
mas holidays in Boston. During the holiday sea-
son he will give one or two minor recitals, and
then in January he starts for the West. He will
not return to the East until the middle of April.
So far all his concerts have been within easy
traveling distance of New York, but after he
once starts West on the first of January, he will
go to the coast before the East sees him again.
Regarding the present Paderewski tour it is
officially stated by his manager that "the most
sanguine prophesies regarding the success of this
seventh tour of the great Polish piaxiist have
fallen beneath the actual facts. The desire on
the part of the public to hear him play seems
to be greater than ever before, and at no time
in his career has he played to such uniformly
large audiences everywhere.
The financial
depression seems not to have affected his busi-
ness in the least."
*
*
+
*
Not the least interesting feature of the hear-
ing for a more liberal Sunday law, before the
Board of Aldermen and which filled the historic
chamber to its capacity, was the debut of Walter
Damrosch as an orator. In a speech of five
minutes he held the vast crowd spellbound and
three times roused the thousand or more hearers
to outbursts of applause which the chairman of
the committee had difficulty in silencing. Mr.
Damrosch appealed for legislation which will
legalize the New York Symphony concerts. "We
as a society," he said, "are hardest hit by the new
order. For four years we have violated the law
unknowingly. This society was formed forty
years ago by my father, and since 1885 I have
been director. It's only purpose has been the cul-
tivation of symphony music, the highest form of
music known to man. For years the society held
its Sunday meetings in my father's house, and it
was the wonderful things done in these little
home circles—the things achieved in that sweet
atmosphere—that developed in my mind that the
same thing should be done on a larger scale. I
maintain that these concerts do not mean work
to the musicians. For six days they sweat blood
so they can work with pleasure to themselves on
the seventh. It is given to none to encompass
God. There are those who see him in Shakes-
peare, and others who see him in the sonatas of
Beethoven. We- cannot understand by what
twisting of the law these concerts come under its
provisions. We are not of the stage. We claim
the right as American citizens to celebrate our
Sunday as we wish. We do not want a Scotch
Sunday in America. Those of us who have been
to Scotland know that a Sunday in Scotland is
Godforsaken."
* * * *
Ernest Schelling, who played with the Philhar-
monic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall last week,
EHNEST H. SCHELI/ING.
scored a decided success. He proved himself to
be an artist of fine technical accomplishments
and masterly musical conception. His playing of
the Chopin F minor concerto was a splendid
achievement. It had distinction and fine musical
feeling and was a truly poetical utterance—one
that showed a master mind. Schelling was in
splendid form and his playing showed a marked
improvement over three years ago when he
played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and
the Kneisel Quartette. At that time he was not
in the best physical condition; anyway he is to-
day an artist of prodigious powers who is
destined to win a new and finer record this sea-
son. The accompaniment by the orchestra to
Schilling's number was not up to the usual
standard—in fact, it was rather ragged and inade-
quate. Schelling was recalled several times. He
played the Steinway piano and brought forth its
wonderful volume and beauty of tone in a
splendid way. On January 24 and 25, Schelling
will be the soloist with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra when he will play by Dr. Muck's invi-
tation his own "Suite Fantastic" for piano or
orchestra. This work was produced for the first
time in Amsterdam with the famous Concert-
gebouw Orchestra under William Mengelburg on
October 10, and was enthusiastically received.
Walter Damrosch has invited Schelling to play
his work with the New York Symphony Orches-
tra at its concert of February 16. On Monday,
December 2, Schelling and Mme. Lina Cavalleri
of the Metropolitan Opera Company, will open
the series of Monday morning musicales in the
new ballroom of the Auditorium Hotel, Chicago.
During the remainder of the week he will be the
soloist on tour with the Russian Symphony
Orchestra. He returns to New York for his Phil-
harmonic appearances, and on December 16 will
appear at Mr. Bagby's Waldorf-Astoria musicale.
* * * •
The news from Geneva which reached New
York this week that Louis Lombard had
attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself
at Lugano, where he now lies in a critical condi-
tion, caused deep regret. Mr. Lombard, it will
be remembered, founded the Conservatory of
Music at Utica, which he conducted many years.
He afterwards married a wealthy American lady
abroad and purchased a magnificent estate, the
Chateau de Trevano, at Lugano, Switzerland,
where he erected a magnificent music hall and
theatre entertaining many of the most notable
musicians of the world. He was a writer and
composer. It is stated that the motive for the
deed was that Lombard had sustained a loss esti-
mated at five million dollars in the recent slump
in stocks in Wall Street, but this story is doubted
inasmuch as it is not believed that the fortune of
Mr. and Mrs. Lombard was large enough to per-
mit of the loss of any such sum. The latest news
is that Mr. Lombard will recover.
* * * •
Subscriptions to the MacDowell Fund now
amount to about $38,693.50. The committee In
charge decided early in the Fall that the time
was inauspicious to carry on any campaign for
raising money, and for this reason little has been
done for several months to bring this matter
before the public. Notwithstanding this, how-
ever, MacDowell benefits are being given
throughout the country, and the fund is being
added to from time to time in a substantial man-
ner. One such concert given in Worcester, Mass.,
on Nov. 19, last netted $173.38 for the fund. The
committee feels that interest in this fund has
not abated and that as soon as the financial situa-
tion is clarified, contributions to the fund may
again be solicited with good results.
* * * *
Josef Hofmann, at his recital on Thursday after-
noon furnished further proof, if it were needed,
of the fact that he has gained tremendously in
his art during the past few years, and it would
be difficult to imagine finer piano playing, or a
better understanding of the instrument and of
the music which he plays than that heard at this
recital. He brought from the Steinway piano
which he played, a singing tone that was abso-
lutely luscious and an orchestral quality that
seemed almost inconceivable when one considers
"DISTINCTIVELY HIGH GKADE"
S6e CHRISTMAN
STUDIO GRAND
is the greatest success of the day.
It possesses a scale of rare even
ness, a tone of remarkable sonority
and richness, with a quality that
is highly orchestral. Our latest
styles of Grands and Uprights
mark a decided advance in the art
of piano-making. We court inves-
tigation. Some territory still open.
CHRISTMAN SONS, Manufacturer.
FACTORY AND OFBTOB:
•69-875 EMt 157th St.
rcw YOUK
WORKROOMS:
55 Wot 14th St